Rivalry
by Teddybear1227
Summary: Kagome is finally done with collecting jewel shards but has been forced home only to find out that the spirit detectives are looking for her. Koenma insists that she has someone to look after her since her friends are all back in the past, so what happens when you mix Kagome's stubborn attitude with Kurama's calm, teasing one? Romance.


Chapter 1: Meetings

There's no real way to explain how Kagome felt as she climbed out of the well for what seemed like the last time. She thought about whether they would miss her, Naraku was finally dead, and the jewel was completed and safely in her possession. Although it's said that one pure wish that can destroy it forever, she hadn't figured out what it could be so she decided to wait.

Walking into her house she first noticed the signature smell of her mother's cooking. She made her way to the kitchen and found her mother making her favorite dish: oden.

"Hey momma" Kagome said with a soft smile

"Kagome dear, how have you been? It's been a while since I last saw you, are you hungry?"

"Momma I'm fine and I know it has been a while, and I'm sorry for that, and yes, I am hungry" Kagome smiled at her mother's questions, they might have been annoying to some, for their parents to ask questions, but for her, it was the least she could do since she's constantly worrying her. She watched her mother put the now finished oden in bowls.

"Why don't you go let Souta and gramps know the food is ready now, I'm sure they'd be happy to see you."

"O.K Momma" Kagome made her way upstairs, first informing her grandpa since his room was closest to the stairs and then her little brother and dealt with their own ways of welcoming her back. Her Grandpa's way being to "gift" her with an ancient artifact and her brother's being to almost knock her down with his hug and ask lots of questions about her travels. They made their way back downstairs together and dinner was mostly just playing catch-up with whatever important she may have missed.

"Hey sis, four guys and this weird girl were looking for you a couple of days ago, I told them you weren't here and to check back next week, is that okay?" Souta asked

"I guess that's fine, but what do you mean 'weird girl'"

"Well she had blue hair, pink eyes, and a personality almost as sunny as yours so I found her weird"

"There's nothing wrong with a sunny personality Souta" their mother reprimanded.

"Yes momma"

"Well I'm going to bed a little early tonight if you all don't mind, I'm still kind of tired." Kagome said and smiled as they all nodded their heads and bid her a goodnight.

The week passed quickly since Kagome had been helping as much as possible around the shrine and felt powerful auras coming towards the shrine at walking pace as she was carrying items to the shed. They came one at a time, first a boy in a green uniform, then a boy in a pink uniform, then a boy wearing all black, then a boy in a blue uniform, and floating in the sky was the weird girl Souta was talking about.

"What brings you all here today?" Kagome said trying not to look overly suspicious. They looked at each other for a moment as if trying to decide who should say something first.

"Are you Kagome?" the boy in the pink uniform asked as he stepped forward.

"Yes, I am, why do you want to see me?"

"Well, it's not so much as _we_ want to see you as much as our _boss_ wants to see you" Kagome watched as the people around him nodded their heads in agreement.

"So, if you want to take me to your boss, I have to know your names first."

"Oh, yes well I'm Kurama, this is Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara, and Boton" he stated as he pointed to each person respectively.

"Okay, so who's your boss and why would he want to see me?" Kagome asked and before Kurama could answer one of the others – Yusuke – interjected

"hey, we don't have time for this, just grab the girl and let's go" Kagome could feel her eye wanting to twitch as anger filled her.

"Who do you think you are to want to just drag me against my will to someone I don't know by people I barely know?" She could hardly believe the implications of what he just said but at the same time it seemed like something Inuyasha would say.

"Yeah Urameshi, you can't just treat girls like that! It's against the code!" Kuwabara tried to reason with him but was just called an idiot and hit on the head by Yusuke which soon turned into a full-blown fight.

"Hey, stop fighting I'll go with you, just tell me exactly what it is I'm going for." Kagome never liked to see people fighting so if she had to go see their boss if only to stop them, she would.

"Well, our boss' name is Koenma and he's prince of spirit world which is a place where spirits go to be sent off wherever they are deemed to go after death, and he would like to see you because he has felt some power surges from this shrine and figured out they must be coming from you." Kagome took a second to process this as she watched the two that were previously fighting lay on the ground tired.

"Will he or any of you hurt me?" She had to ask although they did kind of look like nice people when you get past some of their gruff exteriors.

"Not unless we have to" this time it was Hiei that spoke. When Kurama saw her expression, he spoke up again,

"Don't mind him, we won't hurt you, he has just always had a more aggressive approach."

"Oh, so how do we get there?" Kagome questioned. It didn't seem likely that you could just walk to a place like that.

"Alright this is where I come in" Botan, who had been watching silently on her ore came down

"Hello Kagome, I know we've already had introductions but I'm the grim reaper and I can make portals to the spirit world for us." She had a very cheery voice that reminded Kagome of herself. She quickly made the portal and they all stepped through to a brightly lit room.

"Ah Yusuke, I see you finally brought her" Kagome looked around the room trying to find the owner of the voice. The only new person was a little boy though so she was unsure of how he could have possibly been the person talking.

"I know it seems sudden for you to meet me now but I had wanted to wait until you were finished with your duties in the past to talk to you formerly, I am Koenma, prince of spirit world" She looked at him for a second and had to ask

"You're the prince of spirit world? But you're so small and adorable." Koenma blushed as Yusuke laughed at him

"well this is only one of the forms I can take, I can transform into my other form if it makes you more comfortable" as he said that he transformed into a teenaged form of himself in a puff of smoke.

"The reason I called you hear today is because I've noticed random sparks of reiki coming from your shrine and wanted to know if you still had the Shikon Jewel on your person?"

"Yes, I do, but why do you ask that, nothing major has happened to me in this time concerning the jewel besides Mistress Centipede and that weird mask." Yusuke looked at her then Koenma and asked

"Why weren't told about 'Mistress Centipede' and the 'weird mask'" He looked accusingly at Koenma

"Well Yusuke, you weren't a spirit detective at that time, that was a couple months before, and as for you Kagome, I ask because now that the jewel is complete, demons are going to try and break out more just to get the jewel and so I'd like for you to leave the jewel here" Koenma knew that Kagome wouldn't like that idea but decided to throw it out there anyways.

"What? But I've been protecting the jewel ever since it came out of my body, I'm not just going to give it to you, for all I know you just want to use it for yourself!" She doubted that he really did want it for himself but still, she could never be too careful.

"I understand why you might feel that way so I have an alternative for you, you could allow one of the four boys behind you to act as a body guard for you" he figured she wouldn't really like that idea either but it was the best he could do since he couldn't just leave her alone with the jewel.

"Or you can just let me protect the jewel that I've been protecting for the last five years" Kagome knew he meant well but she wasn't completely defenseless, she could protect herself.

"That's not an option, now that the jewel is whole, the aura it gives off is more powerful than ever to any demon and they _will_ attack, trust me." Koenma looked at the spirit detectives, silently hoping that one of them would volunteer to look after her. Kurama was the first to catch on to what Koenma was doing.

"I can look after her if you wish" While Kurama was watching Koenma try to persuade Kagome, he couldn't help but wonder what all happened in her life and the thief in him wanted to know about the jewel. He didn't want to steal the jewel though, after all he was in the spirit detectives for stealing priceless artifacts. Kagome looked at him like he had just kicked her cat and he couldn't help but let out a little laugh.

"So, you think this is funny huh?" Kagome was upset that he would volunteer to watch over her like she was some kind of pet or child. Kurama shook his head no but he knew it didn't look very convincing since a smile still wanted to come to his face.

"Then it's settled Kurama will watch over her" Kagome looked back towards Koenma to tell him that she agreed to nothing but he just poofed away.

"Well now that that's over with, why don't I take you all back to the shrine" Boton said as she tried to avoid looking at Kagome's glare. They arrived back at the shrine in no time and everyone went their separate ways except for Kagome and Kurama.

"You can leave now you know, I don't need a sitter" Kurama frowned at her, he hoped she wouldn't make this too hard for him.

"Thank you for your kind offer but I intend to stay since this is a mission I was assigned and I take all of my missions seriously" Kurama smiled at her and for some reason Kagome felt like he was mocking her for not being able to get her way.

"Well you don't have to be all arrogant about it you know" after saying that Kagome turned and walked into the shrine with Kurama following closely behind.

"Hello dear where have you been, and who's your friend?" Her mother had been cleaning the kitchen when they walked in and didn't know how to introduce him.

"Good evening Miss Higurashi, I'm Kurama, I'm your daughters friend" Kurama gave her mother a charming smile that her mother couldn't help but smile back and Kagome looked at Kurama with suspicion, where did all of that charm come from?

"Oh, well it's nice to know that Kagome has sweet friends, it has been hard for her to make any"

"Momma!" Kagome shouted and put her head down because she just knew that he was smiling at her… not the charming one, but the mocking one.

"Thank you for your compliment Miss Higurashi" He said as Kagome started to pull him upstairs with her. When they got to her room she sat down the bed and him in the chair at her desk.

"How exactly is this supposed to work? You're not going to be with me every second of the day, are you?" Kagome couldn't lie, she found him handsome, but that didn't mean she was just going to let him hover over her.

"Well no, I'll be here in the daytime as much as possible, but at night I'll leave you but I will need a way to contact you, just in case something should arise" Kagome thought about this for a minute.

"But momma will get the wrong idea if we're together all the time and I don't want any confusion" really it wasn't so much as her mother getting the wrong idea it was more so of her brother and grandpa getting the wrong idea. She knew they would pester her about any possible boyfriend even if he obviously wasn't.

"Don't worry about it, I don't have to be walking right next to you, I could be hidden." Kagome knew that he was doing this for a good reason but she still found it a little creepy.

"Okay I guess."

"Alright so what's your number?" Kagome just stared at him.

"So, you don't have a cell phone? Okay." Kurama didn't say it in a malicious way, but Kagome still took it a little to heart the way he wrote down on a little pad in his hand, presumably to take notes.

"Hey! I do so have a cell phone! I was just wondering why you would ask for that when people normally call from our landline" Kagome defended herself.

"No offense meant I assure you so what is your number?" She gave him his number and stated that he would be back the next day. Kagome flopped down on her bed and hoped that tomorrow wouldn't be as crazy as this one.


End file.
